How much does Medicare pay for CPT 87661?

Medicare allowed an average of $34.30 per service and paid $34.30 of that, the balance being the patient's coinsurance and deductible (2024 data). Providers submitted an average of $104.20, which is what they billed rather than what they received — Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of the charge.

What is CPT code 87661?

Detection test by nucleic acid for trichomonas vaginalis (genital parasite), amplified probe technique. It was billed 171,010 times to 140,706 Medicare beneficiaries by 537 providers in 2024.

Does 87661 pay differently in an office than a hospital?

Yes. The allowed amount averaged $34.30 in an office setting and $34.39 in a facility. The office rate is generally higher because the practice supplies the room, staff and equipment out of that single payment; in a hospital those are billed separately by the facility.

Which specialty bills 87661 most?

Clinical Laboratory, with 145,171 services from 308 clinicians. Next are Pathology, Urology, Obstetrics & Gynecology.

CPT 87661

Detection test by nucleic acid for trichomonas vaginalis (genital parasite), amplified probe technique

$34.30Medicare-allowed amount per service, averaged across 171,010 services

Providers submitted

$104.20

Asking price, not received

Medicare allowed

$34.30

The fee schedule figure

Medicare paid

$34.30

Balance is patient coinsurance

Providers submitted an average of $104.20 for this code and Medicare allowed $34.30 — 3.0× less. That gap is normal and means nothing on its own: Medicare pays its fee schedule regardless of what is billed, so the submitted figure describes a hospital chargemaster, not a price anyone paid. Of the allowed amount Medicare paid $34.30 (100%); the rest is the patient’s coinsurance and deductible.

Office pays differently to hospital

Office / non-facility: $34.30
Hospital / facility: $34.39

The facility rate is higher for this code, which is unusual and generally means the service depends on equipment or staffing a hospital carries. 170,998 services were billed in an office setting and 12 in a facility.

Services: 171,010
Beneficiaries: 140,706
Providers billing it: 537
Total allowed: $5,865,643

What Medicare pays for CPT 87661

Across 171,010 services billed by 537 providers to 140,706 beneficiaries, Medicare allowed an average of $34.30 per service. That is 1.2 services per beneficiary, so this is a code patients typically receive more than once. The allowed amount is the figure that matters: it is what Medicare and the patient together owe, set by the fee schedule and adjusted for local practice costs. What a provider chose to submit has no bearing on it.

Who bills 87661

Specialty	Services	Beneficiaries	Avg allowed	Providers
Clinical Laboratory	145,171	119,179	$34.31	308
Pathology	12,036	10,660	$34.13	50
Urology	8,525	6,318	$34.29	59
Obstetrics & Gynecology	2,297	2,045	$34.34	62
Physician Assistant	1,556	1,311	$34.34	16
Nurse Practitioner	764	582	$34.19	18
Family Practice	148	133	$34.39	5
Hematology-Oncology	137	136	$34.14	7
Infectious Disease	103	94	$34.39	1
Gastroenterology	62	57	$33.84	1
Hematology	48	46	$33.77	1
Certified Nurse Midwife	33	28	$33.86	2
Internal Medicine	30	30	$34.39	2
Gynecological Oncology	29	25	$34.39	1
Hospitalist	22	22	$34.39	1

87661 reimbursement by state

Two different numbers. Allowed is what Medicare actually allowed in that state, which includes the local practice-cost adjustment. Standardized strips that geographic adjustment out of the payment, so it is the column to use when comparing states — a difference there reflects how the code was billed, not what it costs to run a practice locally.

State	Services	Allowed	Standardized pmt	Providers
Texas	31,722	$34.35	$34.39	74
New Jersey	30,407	$34.36	$34.39	17
California	21,587	$34.36	$34.39	53
Florida	15,665	$34.22	$34.39	38
Illinois	8,327	$34.37	$34.39	26
Oklahoma	8,218	$34.33	$34.39	19
New York	7,646	$34.33	$34.39	60
Pennsylvania	7,279	$34.35	$34.39	19
Massachusetts	4,954	$34.39	$34.39	6
Maryland	4,946	$34.28	$34.39	33
Arizona	3,471	$33.82	$34.39	7
Michigan	3,162	$34.26	$34.35	15
Tennessee	2,815	$34.36	$34.39	15
Missouri	2,508	$34.37	$34.38	7
Nevada	2,064	$33.91	$34.39	5
Wisconsin	2,001	$33.42	$34.39	4
Connecticut	1,468	$34.24	$34.39	4
Ohio	1,191	$34.30	$34.39	4
Kansas	1,066	$34.32	$34.39	8
Colorado	1,055	$34.15	$34.39	14
Louisiana	1,053	$34.34	$34.39	17
Minnesota	886	$33.91	$34.39	6
Washington	882	$33.82	$34.39	11
Nebraska	689	$34.31	$34.39	12
Mississippi	684	$34.36	$34.39	8
New Mexico	653	$34.21	$34.39	3
Utah	643	$34.39	$34.39	2
Virginia	606	$34.30	$34.39	5
Indiana	511	$34.33	$34.39	8
Georgia	476	$34.39	$34.39	4
Oregon	457	$33.94	$34.39	4
Puerto Rico	421	$34.24	$34.39	3
North Carolina	365	$34.31	$34.39	3
Arkansas	350	$34.39	$34.39	7
Alabama	218	$34.10	$34.39	3
New Hampshire	157	$34.39	$34.39	1
Maine	85	$34.39	$34.39	1
West Virginia	68	$33.98	$34.39	1
Rhode Island	65	$34.39	$34.39	2
South Carolina	60	$34.39	$34.39	1
Delaware	54	$34.39	$34.39	3
Hawaii	27	$34.39	$34.39	1
Idaho	18	$33.23	$34.39	1
Alaska	17	$32.75	$34.39	1
Iowa	13	$34.39	$34.39	1

Related codes

87640Detection test by nucleic acid for staphylococcus aureus (bacteria)$34.35
87653Detection test by nucleic acid for strep (streptococcus$34.36
87635Amplifed dna or rna probe detection of severe acute respiratory syndro$50.11
87651Detection test by nucleic acid for strep (streptococcus$34.33
87641Detection test by nucleic acid for staphylococcus aureus$34.36
87637Detection test by multiplex amplified probe technique for severe acute$139.09
87631Detection test by nucleic acid for multiple types of respiratory virus$139.46
87624Detection test by nucleic acid for human papillomavirus (hpv)$34.30
87636Detection test by multiplex amplified probe technique for severe acute$138.39
87634Detection test by nucleic acid for respiratory syncytial virus$68.72
87652Detection test by nucleic acid for strep (streptococcus$40.89
87625Detection test by nucleic acid for human papillomavirus (hpv)$39.71

Billing this code is not the same as earning it

An allowed amount is revenue to a practice, not income to a clinician. It funds staff, premises, equipment and supplies before anyone is paid. What clinicians actually earn is published separately by the Department of Labor, and what industry pays them is published separately again by CMS — this site carries both.

What doctors are paid →·Look up a clinician →·All procedure codes →

Where this comes from. CMS Medicare Physician & Other Practitioners, by Provider and Service, 2024. It covers fee-for-service Original Medicare Part B only — not Medicare Advantage, not Medicaid, and not commercial insurance, which typically pays more for the same code.

How it is averaged. CMS publishes one average per provider per code. Every figure here is re-weighted by the number of services, so a clinician who billed the code 4,000 times counts 4,000 times more than one who billed it twice. CMS also suppresses any provider-code pair with fewer than 11 beneficiaries, so low-volume practice is missing from these totals by design.